When you are on dialysis or have a transplant, you will need to plan carefully if you wish to have a holiday or travel, even within Australia. However, there are options available and many resources to help you.

The key steps are:

Talk to your dialysis healthcare team.

Plan your dialysis treatment or transplant support.

Organise medications and supplies.

Home haemodialysis or peritoneal dialysisWe have produced a comprehensive booklet ‘An Introduction to Home Dialysis’ that contains information about travel to treatment and travel for holidays. You can download the booklet here.

More information about travelling while on home haemodialysis is available here.

More information about travelling while on peritoneal dialysis is available here.

More information and reviews of domestic and international dialysis units here.

Centre-based haemodialysis arrangements With increasing demand for centre-based haemodialysis (i.e., at a dialysis unit), dialysis chairs may not be readily available. Dialysis sessions should therefore always be booked well in advance and confirmed before you travel. You must be prepared to be flexible.

We have also produced a quick reference guide to help you plan dialysis sessions while on holiday. You can access the guide here.

Transplant and TravelWe have a special fact sheet, developed in association with Michele Hervey of QLD, that provides detail and lots of useful tips about travelling with a kidney transplant. Open the Transplant and Travel fact sheet here.

Big Red Kidney BusKidney Health Australia's award-winning Big Red Kidney Bus program provides mobile holiday dialysis, so that Australians needing haemodialysis can get away for a holiday without missing treatments. The Big Red Kidney Bus is open to all Australians on hospital, satellite or home dialysis, and tours Victoria and NSW. Read more about the Big Red Kidney Bus.